1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer that automatically performs a qualitative/quantitative analysis of a biological sample such as blood, urine, or the like, and more particularly to an automatic analyzer capable of mounting many reagents, and having a high throughput.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of automatic analysis, a random access type automatic analyzer, which uses a plurality of reaction lines at random, has been developed, and it has brought about a dramatic improvement in processing capability of analysis. With this improvement, the consumption of reagents has speeded up, and opportunities to replace reagents have increased. Automatic analyzers commonly used are of a type in which a plurality of reagent containers are placed on a rotating disk referred to as a reagent disk, and in which, by rotating the reagent disk, an intended reagent is dispensed from an intended reagent container using a reagent dispensing probe. Among these automatic analyzers, Japanese Registered Utility Model No. 2503751 discloses an automatic analyzer in which, with a view to preventing the interruption of an analysis due to the deficiency of a reagent, a plurality of reagent containers each of which contains a kind of reagent that is to be used a lot are set on the reagent disk so that, when one of the reagent containers becomes deficient in the reagent, the reagent can be dispensed from another of the reagent containers. Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-310643 discloses an automatic analyzer in which, at the time of replacing a reagent, information on the expiration date of the reagent after the start of its usage is set, and the elapsed time from the start of the usage of the reagent exceeds its expiration date, an alarm is issued.